Presently, SIP is becoming an increasingly popular protocol for transporting both standard and non-standard information in a common framework over Internet Protocol (IP) based communications systems (e.g., Local Area Networks (LANs)), such as systems and services provided by AT&T and/or other multi-media service providers. As many multi-media service providers incrementally transition from circuit-based communication systems, such as Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) communication systems, to IP-based communication systems, there has been a promulgation of hybrid communication systems. The hybrid communication systems includes a circuit-based portion running transaction capability protocol (TCAP), integrated services digital network (ISDN) User Part Protocol (ISUP), ISDN and other protocols suitable for operation on the circuit-based communication system. The hybrid communication system further includes an IP-based portion running Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) or other protocols suitable for operation on the IP-based communication system.
In the typical hybrid communication system, call requests that originate on the circuit-based portion of the system, which require resources of another element of the circuit-based portion of the system, such as for feature processing purposes, may require many signaling and processing resources to process. Another drawback of the typical hybrid communication system is related to the requirement that network resources be transported between elements of the communication system (i.e., between elements of the circuit and IP based portions of the communication system) for processing call requests, which elements provide the feature/application processing for the call requests. This transportation of network resources between elements of the hybrid communication system for processing various call requests contributes to an increase in overall network complexity of the communication system from a service management and provisioning perspective.
It would, therefore, be desirable to overcome the aforesaid and other disadvantages.